St. Louis Post-Dispatch

TIMBER RIDGE OUTPOST AND CABINS IN KARBERS RIDGE, ILL.

“When we decided to get into the lodging business, we knew something different would get attention,” says Elizabeth Canfarelli who owns the business with her husband. “I have a lifelong passion for tree houses and collect coffee-table books devoted to them.”

After consulting an arborist in 2012 about where best to build a human nest on their 170-acre property, two trees were selected. The smaller tree house sleeps two and rests between a red maple and a white oak 16 feet off the ground overlooking a small creek. The larger tree house is perched 20 feet off the ground, consists of two stories and can accommodate six people. Measuring 550 square feet, it rests in the branches of a huge 200-year-old white oak tree. Some branches of the tree extend inside the cabin.

Yes, both tree houses contain bathrooms.

Timber Ridge Outpost is in Southern Illinois near the Shawnee National Forest between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.